


Echoes

by Tamtree



Category: Jack Blank Adventures - Matt Myklusch
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-11
Updated: 2021-01-21
Packaged: 2021-03-15 15:40:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,120
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28691094
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tamtree/pseuds/Tamtree
Summary: Jack is going through some stuff. Poor kid thought it was all over? Ha.
Kudos: 2





	1. Echoes in the Mist

**Author's Note:**

> Hello, so this is my first time posting a fanfic, wow big new adventure here. I love this series, Matt Myklusch is amazing, and I think it needs more recognition so here's my contribution.  
> I'm going to post short chapters, so I recommend just looking over the last paragraph before reading the next chapter if there has been a brake, as it would make more sense.  
> I'm not going to write more then the two chapters I already have written unless someone specifically asks in reply (which, given how many people are active in this fandom, will almost definitely not happen).  
> Anyway, comments and suggestions are greatly appreciated, enjoy dear friends.

CHAPTER ONE - ECHOES IN THE MIST

“ _Jack. Wake up, Jack._ ”

Jack only dimly registered the voice, echoing out from the misty depths of his brain. His head was too groggy to focus properly, lights and shapes blurred into one hazy scene as his brain tried to process where he was. His whole body ached as though he’d been running for miles, and his head spun as he tried to stand.

“ _Jack, Jack! Can you hear me_?”

This time Jack recognised the voice. He’d recognise that voice anywhere, deafeningly loud in the silence. He had recognised it light years from home, in the middle of an escape from the Rüstov Mothership, of course he could recognise it there! Though where _here_ was, he had no idea.

“ _Jazen? Is that you? Where are you_?”

Jack looked around, his gaze slowly taking in his unusual surroundings. He appeared to be standing in what he thought was a forest. Thick, old gnarled trunks surrounded him, and he tripped over hidden roots as he stumbled blindly through an eerie, glowing white fog.

“ _Jack! Help me_!”

“Allegra?” Jack cried out. He started running blindly through the fog and trees to find his friends, desperately trying to help them.  
“Allegra! Where are you? What’s happening, what’s wrong?”

“ _Help! They’re back! They’re- AAAH!_ ”

“ALLEGRA!” Jack yelled, fighting through the roots and branches to try and get to her. Jack felt a prickle on the back of his neck, as if someone were standing right behind him, just hidden from his sight by the luminous mist.  
He whipped around to find Skerren just a step behind him, sword pointed directly at his chest.

“Skerren! Wait… what are you doing?” Jack said as he fell to the ground, scrabbling backwards over the rotting fallen leaves, away from his friend’s sword point.  
“ _Stand down Rüstov._ ” Skerren snarled, as he jabbed the sword point at Jack’s heart. Just as Skerren raised the sword to strike, he disappeared in a swirl of white mist. Throat dry and heart pounding, Jack shook his head before picking himself up and running away from where his friend’s twin blades had gleamed in the darkness.

“Jazen! Allegra! Anyone!” Jack yelled through the trees, his cries growing more and more desperate as he stumbled blindly through the woods.  
“ _This boy is trouble, he is nothing more than a Rüstov agent!_ ”  
Jack could hear Smart’s voice echoing out of the darkness, but couldn't see him through the mist.  
“ _If we leave him be, he will bring upon us the end of our world! We must do what is necessary and end him first!_ ”  
Jack ran, seething with rage, towards the sound of Smart’s words, as he dashed blindly onwards.

“Stendeval!” Jack cried as his mentor came into view, a lone figure emerging out of the mist. “Oh boy, how glad I am to see you! Where are we? What is this place? How did we- Stendeval?” Jack took a step back when he saw the look on his role models face.  
“ _You failed Jack. I thought we could trust you, but you used all of us. Smart was right, you are nothing but a dirty Rüstov. Goodbye Jack Blank._ ”  
Jack’s heart dropped like a stone. His eyes stung with tears as he watched his wisest friend turn around to be swallowed by the fog.  
“Stendeval! Wait!” Jack cried out desperately, a hand reaching out in front of him as he ran towards the place where his mentor had vanished.  
What was going on? What had happened? Where _was_ he?

Too late Jack saw the root at his feet, and with a crash he fell to the ground, sprawled out across the floor.  
He pulled himself up to a sitting position, and was about rise when he looked upwards to find himself staring into the face of a boy only inches from his own. A boy that looked exactly like him. Leaning over him, his face fixed in a sneer was Khalix, Jack’s Rüstov parasite.  
“ _I told you, didn’t I Jack. There was no way you could win. It was only a matter of time. You fell, just like the others._ ” Khalix leant over to whisper in Jack’s ear.  
“ _You belong to us Jack. You have since the moment you were infect. Always have and always will._ ” Jack could hear the gloating smirk in Khalix’s voice as he whispered, “ _You’re mine._ ”  
“NO!” Jack screamed, as he flung himself away from Khalix, his awful laughter still echoing in Jack’s ears.

Jack ran again, away from the sight of Khalix, standing in the mist. But even when he had faded from sight, the whispers he left in Jack’s ears still rang on.  
“ _You’re already ours Jack. You lost the fight just like you knew you would._ ”  
“No, no, I didn’t lose, i’m still here.”  
“ _You failed them all. All those who depended on you._ ”  
“I didn’t, I didn’t. Stop saying that, stop talking.”  
“ _The others were all right Jack, Smart, Noteworthy, Hovarth. They knew you’d fall._ ”  
“You’re wrong. You’re WRONG.” Jack screamed, clamping his hands over his ears in an attempt to stop the whispering voices, but they went on, reverberating inside his head, echoing in his ears.

He fell to his knees as all the different voices grew louder and louder, drowning out anything he may shout in response. His vision swam in front of his eyes again as the voices became more and more insistent. Jack collapsed to his side, knees tucked in, hands still continuing his futile attempts to block the noise from his ears. His eyes half closed, Jack could barely make out another figure coming towards him out of the mist. Horn gleaming on his forehead and spikes protruding from his back, the Magus slowly walked out from the shadows. Jack could only lie there, helpless, as the Rüstov emperor approached. His vision began to blacken at the edges, just as the Magus crouched down beside his helpless form. He looked down at Jack, surveying him for a moment before smiling a terrible smile that made Jack’s insides shrivel up, as he spoke.

“ _Welcome back my son._ ”

Suddenly a searing pain started in Jack’s head, the voices swelling to a deafening crescendo.  
He couldn’t take anymore, he was losing control, he was going to crack, he-

“JACK!!”


	2. Accidents

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jack is a fool. What's new. But seriously dude, get some sleep or you're gonna get yourself injured.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A lot of this chapter is me practicing recounts, so a major part is a recap of the series so bear with me, I promise I made it as interesting as possible, I'd really appreciate it if you read it.

“AHHHHHHHGG!” Jack yelled as he jumped to his feet, sequentially banging his head on his scanning machine, staggering forwards, stubbing his foot against the work table then toppling over sending all his tools crashing down on top of him.

“Jack! You really need to make sure you get enough sleep! This is the tenth time this month you’ve fallen asleep at your lab desk!”

Jack looked up from where he lay, covered in screwdrivers, wrenches, bolts and other more complex tools. Allegra was looking down at him, hands on her hips, a look of concern etched on her face. Standing just behind her was Skerren, barely hiding his snorts of amusement with one hand pressed over his mouth.

Jack stared at her blankly then turned to look at Skerren, who was now positively bursting with laughter. He watched his friend attempt to take deep steadying breaths only to fail as his fit of giggles continued, cheeks turning red in his mirth. Despite this, Jack couldn’t get the image out of his head of Skerren standing over him in the thick swirling mist with his sword pointed at Jack's heart. He could still see it so clearly... Jack supposed this was because it had actually happened. During the time before the second Rüstov invasion, Skerren and the rest of Varagog Village were sure Jack was going to turn into Revile, the blood thirsty, indestructible murder weapon of the Rüstov, and they tried with all they’re hearts to hunt him down and kill him. Since then, Jack had regained Skerren trust and in the post-invasion Imagine Nation, Skerren, Allegra and Jack's bond had grown, and so had they. Both mentally and physically. Jack was reaching his 15th birthday next week, but still…

Lost in thought, Jack didn’t notice Allegra trying to talk to him until she reached out a half-liquid hand and slapped him across the face.  
“Hey!” Jack cried, shooting Allegra an indignant look at as Skerren doubled over in silent giggles.  
“Sorry! You weren’t listening to me!” the young Valorian girl replied, matching Jack's tone. “You are really going to hurt yourself one of these days.”  
“Don’t worry, I’m fine!” Jack said, as he patted down his smouldering hair that had been singed by the mini blow torch he’d left running when he fell asleep. “Right, you’re fine.” Allegra said, her face made it clear she didn’t believe him. She sighed. “You’re going to burn your new house down.”

After he defeated the Rüstov, Jack learned that Solomon Roka was actually Solomon Noteworthy and his father and they had spent the rest of the year getting to know each other as they travelled space together adventuring through planets and star systems. Once they arrived back home early this year, they found the city almost completely rebuild, with most of the debris and ruins cleared apart from the occasional crack or crater in a building or sidewalk.  
Now that Jack had been reunited with his father, Jazen no longer had custody over him and he was free to live with his family. Despite this fact, Jack hated the idea of leaving Jazen and seeming as Roka, up until a couple months ago, was considered a space pirate and in some areas a wanted criminal, he didn’t exactly have any house to return to. With the discovery of his true name also came the rights to a share of the Noteworthy family’s considerable fortune and premises, although the idea of staying in the family estate with Soloman’s brother Clarkston Noteworthy disgusted both him and Jack equally. In the end they settled on building their own home, in which Jazen was welcome to stay anytime he was in Hightown on a break from his duties as a Commander working with the councilwoman of Machina.  
Their house was on the very edge of Hightown, and although the towering skyscrapers of which the city was mostly composed of certainly overshadowed the building, it could be called simply a ‘house’. The building was several stories high, with glass windows all around giving a spectacular view of Seasonstill Park, and beyond that the giant statue of Legend in heroes square which had been rebuilt after the Rüstov’s attack.  
Jack wasn’t completely happy with the idea of living in the Imagine Nations most populated burrow, not to mention having to share it with both Clarkston Noteworthy and Jonus Smart, but he had to agree with Roka when he said that Cognito simply wasn’t a convenient option with the amount of work Jack was doing. Being in Hightown made it much easier to gain access to the tools and equipment he needed to keep working on his inventions, plus it meant that his friends could come and visit without Jack needing to give them detailed instructions on how to find his house on any given day.

Jack was once again snapped out of his reminiscence by Skerren who had calmed down from his laughing fit to offer Jack a hand up.  
“Sounded like a pretty awful dream from what we heard of it.” Skerren said, his smile wavering as Jack grasped his hand and he pulled him to his feet.  
Jack sighed. He felt frustrated with himself at the fact he couldn’t stop muttering in his sleep, and it had only gotten worse since the battle with the Rüstov, or so his father told him.  
“De ja vu much, huh?” he grumbled, patting his clothes down, “How much did you hear?”  
“Enough.” Allegra said, sounding concerned, “I’m telling you, you need to tell someone about this, you can’t keep trying to deal with this stuff on your own!”  
Jack scowled. “I told you Allergra, if I mention this to anyone else, it might start off the whole Rüstov scare again, and just when people are starting to think it’s safe! Anyway, you guys know, and I’ve learned that I can have my secrets from strangers, but not from my friends.”  
“Took you long enough.” Skerren muttered.  
Before Jack could retort, Allegra cut in between them.  
“Drop it Skerren, Jacks learned his lesson now, we’ve all fixed our flaws. Jack his trust, me my confidence and you your quick tempered competitiveness.”  
“I wasn’t quick tempered or competitive!” “  
Scratch that,” Allegra said with a smirk, “you haven’t changed at all.”  
“Why you litt-“ Skerren broke off mid sentence, interrupted by a sudden beeping coming from a device on Jacks work table.


End file.
